What happens when staying connected becomes something people have to carefully budget for? Across Africa, mobile data is increasingly essential for work, business, education, communication and everyday life, but the cost of connectivity can influence how people participate in the digital economy.
This is where telephone surveys can reveal something that internet usage statistics often miss: how African consumers actually adapt when staying connected becomes expensive.
For many African consumers, mobile data is not simply a monthly expense. It is something people manage carefully, stretch, share, borrow and sometimes sacrifice. A person may have a smartphone and live in an area with network coverage, yet still limit how often they use social media, stream videos, attend online meetings or complete digital surveys because every megabyte has a cost. Research from the International Telecommunication Union highlights the continuing affordability challenge surrounding mobile broadband across Africa.
That creates a hidden layer of consumer behaviour that is difficult to see from connectivity figures alone. Someone may technically be connected but still make daily decisions about which websites to visit, which videos to watch, which applications to use and which online activities are worth spending data on. For researchers and businesses, understanding these decisions can be just as important as knowing whether someone has internet access.
Telephone Surveys Reveal the Real Cost of Staying Connected
Africa's digital economy continues to expand, but access does not automatically mean meaningful use. According to the International Telecommunication Union's 2025 data, the median price of a 5GB mobile broadband basket in Africa was equivalent to 5.3% of gross national income per capita in 2025, compared with 1.4% globally.
That difference matters because consumers do not experience “internet access” as a statistic. They experience it as a decision.
Should I buy more data today? Should I save it for work? Should I watch this video or wait until I have Wi-Fi? Should I use my own data to complete this survey? Or should I ask a friend to share a hotspot?
These small decisions can shape how people interact with businesses, governments, financial services and research organisations. This is one reason telephone surveys can provide another way to reach consumers without requiring them to spend additional mobile data navigating a long online questionnaire.
Telephone Surveys and the Hidden Economy of Borrowed Data
“Borrowing data” does not always mean literally asking someone for a data bundle. It can mean using a friend's hotspot, connecting to a family member's phone, waiting until work or school Wi-Fi is available, visiting a place with free internet or switching between SIM cards to find a cheaper bundle.
For some households, connectivity can become a shared resource rather than an individual one. A smartphone may belong to one person while several family members depend on it for internet access. A friend may share a hotspot so another person can complete an important task. Someone may postpone downloading an application until they have access to cheaper or free Wi-Fi.
The consequences are important for researchers. Imagine an online consumer survey asking people about their digital habits. The respondents who complete the survey may disproportionately be people who can afford regular connectivity, while people who ration their data heavily may be less likely to participate.
The result can be a digital participation bias: the people easiest to reach online may not always represent the people whose experiences matter most. Research based on telephone interviews can help close part of that gap by reaching respondents directly through mobile networks rather than making internet access a requirement for participation.
Why Internet Coverage Does Not Tell the Whole Story
Africa's connectivity story is often discussed in terms of network coverage, smartphone ownership and internet penetration. But coverage is only one part of the picture.
The GSMA's Africa Mobile Economy research notes that almost 1 billion people in Africa were still not using mobile internet in 2025, despite the expansion of mobile coverage. The organisation identifies barriers including device affordability and digital skills alongside the wider usage gap.
This distinction is important: being covered by a network is not the same as being able to use the internet freely.
Someone may have network coverage but an expensive data plan. Someone may own a smartphone but share it with family members. Someone may have mobile internet but avoid video content because it consumes too much data. Someone may be online every day but only for essential activities such as messaging, banking or work.
These differences are easy to miss when digital participation is measured only through online behaviour.
Telephone Surveys Can Reach Beyond the Always-Online Consumer
For organisations conducting market research in Africa, this creates a practical question: Who are you actually reaching?
An online survey can be fast and convenient, but it may naturally favour people who are already digitally active. Telephone surveys offer another route.
Through Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI), trained interviewers can contact selected respondents, administer structured questionnaires and capture responses systematically. This can be particularly useful when researchers need opinions from consumers who may not regularly complete online forms.
The advantage is not simply “more responses”. It is the possibility of hearing from different kinds of respondents.
What African Consumers Do With Limited Data
Limited data can influence consumer behaviour in ways businesses may not immediately see.
A consumer may abandon a website because pages load slowly. A potential customer may avoid downloading an app. A respondent may skip a video advertisement. A student may postpone an online course. A small business owner may rely more heavily on WhatsApp messages than websites. A customer may prefer a voice call because it is faster than navigating a data-heavy digital platform.
These behaviours are commercially important.
They tell businesses that digital transformation is not simply about creating another app or putting a service online. It is about understanding how consumers actually access and use digital services within their economic realities.
What Telephone Surveys Can Tell Businesses
Well-designed telephone surveys in Africa can help organisations explore questions that website analytics cannot answer.
Why did a customer abandon a digital service? What prevents consumers from using a particular app? How do people decide which services deserve their limited data? Which communication channels do different consumer groups trust? How does connectivity affect purchasing behaviour? What prevents rural consumers from adopting a digital product? Are consumers avoiding a service because of price, trust, usability or connectivity?
These questions become particularly important as African businesses expand across markets with very different levels of income, infrastructure and digital adoption.
A consumer in Nairobi may have a completely different digital routine from a consumer in Kano, Accra or Kampala. The difference is not necessarily preference. Sometimes it is affordability. Sometimes it is infrastructure. Sometimes it is trust. And sometimes it is simply the cost of staying connected.
The Bigger Economic Story Behind Mobile Data
The issue goes beyond surveys. The ITU's latest affordability data shows that mobile internet affordability in Africa remains significantly above the international affordability benchmark, even though prices have improved over time. The affordability challenge is particularly important for lower-income populations, for whom the same data bundle represents a much larger share of available income.
At the same time, mobile technology is becoming increasingly important to African economies. According to the GSMA's Mobile Economy Africa report, mobile technologies and services contributed approximately $240 billion to Africa's economy in 2025, equivalent to 7.8% of the continent's GDP.
This creates an interesting contradiction. Africa is becoming increasingly dependent on digital connectivity while many consumers still have to carefully manage the cost of using it.
That tension deserves more attention from researchers, brands, policymakers and technology companies.
Better Research Starts With Understanding How People Actually Live
The lesson is not that online research is ineffective. It is that one research method cannot always capture every consumer.
If the people being studied have different levels of connectivity, researchers need methods that reflect those differences.
Telephone surveys can provide a practical way to reach respondents directly, ask structured questions and understand the reasons behind behaviour rather than simply observing what happens online.
For organisations researching African consumers, this can mean moving beyond the question of “Who is online?” to a more useful question: “What is preventing people from participating, purchasing, responding or engaging and how does that affect the market?”
That is where the hidden economy of borrowing data becomes more than an interesting social habit. It becomes a market research question.
And sometimes, the people who are hardest to reach digitally are the people whose voices businesses most need to hear.
Telephone Surveys Can Capture the African Market
Telephone surveys provide a practical way for organisations to reach consumers and businesses directly, collect structured responses and measure experiences across different groups. For organisations researching African markets, this can help reveal not just what people do online, but why they behave differently and what economic realities are influencing their decisions.
Telephone research can also provide a baseline for tracking change over time. As connectivity becomes more affordable and digital services expand, a follow-up survey can reveal whether consumers are changing their behaviour or whether established habits are continuing.
For organisations looking to understand consumers across African markets, CATI Africa provides telephone interviewing and market research support that can help turn consumer experiences into structured market intelligence.
The Question Is Not Only Who Is Online
The bigger market question is what happens when people cannot participate digitally as freely as businesses assume.
How are African consumers managing their data? What digital activities are they prioritising? What are they avoiding? How does connectivity affect purchasing decisions? And what do consumers now expect from the brands and services they depend on?
These are questions that internet usage statistics cannot fully answer. Telephone surveys put those questions directly to the people experiencing the market.
At CATI Africa, telephone research helps organisations reach respondents, gather structured feedback and turn consumer experiences into actionable market intelligence across African markets. Sometimes, to understand what is happening in a market, you simply have to call and ask. Want to understand what consumers are saying in your market? Contact CATI Africa to discuss your telephone survey needs.
